The history of the “Hollyłódź” is in fact the history of the post-war Lodz. It is after the war that the Feature Films Studio, called “the factory of dreams”, was created. This is where the majority of Polish post-war films were shot. The famous Lodz Film School, an elite school which has trained generations of outstanding directors and actors was also established around that time. The symbol of the school are the famous stairs on which Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polański, or Krzysztof Kieślowski used to sit.
Right next to the Film School there is the only Museum of Cinematography in Poland. The film trail of Lodz also includes the Alley of the Stars on Piotrkowska, modeled on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, consisting of over 90 stars dedicated to actors, directors, cameramen, and film composers, as well as numerous film locations. Lodz has starred in several hundred movies and TV series, and the number of productions with Lodz in the background is constantly growing. Just to mention a few, the Oscar-nominated “The Promised Land”, “In the Darkness”, “Sexmission”, legendary series “More Than Life at Stake”, and the latest productions, the Oscar-awarded “Ida”, last great production of Wajda, “Afterimage”, or “Inspector Alex”.
For years now the city has been hosting numerous film festivals - European Cinema Forum “Cinergia”, Filmteractive, Drama School Festival, and Film Critics Festival “Camera Action”. Today there is also National Centre for Film Culture and Łódź Film Commission working on both bringing the film industry to the city as well as cultivating the film heritage of Łódź. The form of appreciation of the rank of cinematic industry in Łódź iwas putting the city on UNESCO Creative Cities Network as the City of Film (2017).
